.in comparison.

i'm currently halfway through my final posting in third yr med school

surgery

looking backwards

comparing surgery and the previous posting which was obs & gynae

was like comparing earth and the sky above

seriously

here's a summary of my life

obs & gynae vs surgery

1. waking up in the morning

when i was in obs & gynae, i woke up every single day (weekends are omitted) at 530 am with tachycardia

*literally means your heart pumps more than it should per minute*

thinking about the ward rounds at 800 am and the cases i were supposed to present and the consequences of imperfect presentation

in surgery, i woke up at 800 am (slept after subuh prayer) with bilateral ptosis

*literally means both eyes simply cant be opened*

filled with laziness and slumped back on my bed

2. going to the wards

when i was in obs & gynae, i went to the wards every single day at 645 am with hope that my bed or beds was empty

or else, i had to prepare myself for the rounds

*particularly mental state!*

in surgery, i went to the wards at 900 am thinking of what should i do there

3. clinics

when i was in obs & gynae, thursday was my clinic day

so i had to went down to clinic, grabbed a n/c file (n/c stands for new case), called out the patients name, clerked, and presented to the registrar in the clinic

*if i was unlucky, scolding will be there for every point in the history i missed, in front of the patient :(*

if i were to stand and linger around the clinic without doing any clerking, just wait and see what my specialist would do

in surgery, i had only went to the clinic once

and i stand behind the specialist all the time, asking all the question i want in the world and not being scolded even if i couldnt answer the basic things

4. operation day

when i was in obs & gynae, monday was the operation day

so right after morning ward rounds, we will rushed to the obs & gynae operation theatre, changed clothes and went into the theatre watching whatever operation there were that particular day

if u was not around, names will taken :)

in surgery, i had never entered the operation theatre

and it's already week 4

*sigh*

5. at night

when i was in obs & gynae, i went to the wards every single night including sunday

well, i had to cover my beds for round the next morning

*we had round every morning and students are to present cases PERFECTLY*

if my beds were empty, then i need to find my friends whom covering two beds and both of them with patients

so that i can cover one of them

or else, we will get scolded for not presenting whereas your friends presenting two cases

in surgery, there's only study groups 3 times per week

and nothing else

6. weekends

when i was in obs & gynae, most of my oncall was on friday night

so i need to be in the labour room every friday from 700 pm till 700 am the next morning to conduct normal deliveries

or else, my logbook wouldnt be completely filled

and i'll fail my continuous assessment, hence failing my obs & gynae posting

and i would later spend the whole saturday covering all my lack of sleep

and sunday to be prepared for the next monday rounds

so, there's no chance at all for me to go back home during weekends

in surgery, it's already week 4

and i had been going home every weekends there was :)

life was totally different in comparing surgery with obs & gynae

not that i'm saying being in the surgical department is really free

but being a third yr med student in surgical posting

life could be so empty since there's not much you can do in it

*maybe i'm the one who's assuming it..or perhaps lazy.. =P*

obs & gynae might be really super hectic

but i missed it

it reminds me of what type of life i chose

being a doctor means sacrificing yourself towards the community

being with patients most of the time of your life

it's the path i chose

and i had to live it the way it should be lived =D

p/s : med school is nice..you might be scolded all the time, but it's just worth it =D